Approximately 2 billion people worldwide use tobacco products, mostly in the form of cigarettes, with tobacco smoking-related diseases resulting in 4 million deaths per year [1]. Among the approximately 64.5 million active smokers in the USA, smoking-related disease results in approximately 440,000 preventable annual deaths [2]. The enormous healthcare expenditures and mortality associated with chronic cigarette smoking results in an estimated $92 billion annual productivity loss in the US. Internationally, the greatest smoking related mortality is increasingly apparent among economically disadvantaged groups, which, in the US includes a disproportionate number of ethnic minorities and those with psychiatric and substance use disorders [3,4]. An extensive body of research thoroughly describes the deleterious effects of chronic cigarette smoking on human cardiac and pulmonary function, peripheral vascular systems as well as its carcinogenic properties [5–8]. Recent research indicates chronic cigarette smoking is associated with increased risk for numerous biomedical conditions that may directly or indirectly compromise brain neurobiology and neurocognition [9–12]. However, compared to the substantial volume of research on the cardiovascular, pulmonary and cancer-related health consequences associated with chronic smoking, surprisingly little research has been specifically devoted to the investigation of its effects on human neurocognition and brain neurobiology.
